New York lawmakers push back budget deadline again

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York lawmakers passed another extension for the state’s budget on Thursday to ensure state workers get paid and operations continue undisrupted as negotiations are still underway.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, needs to sign the extension bill, which pushes the due date for a final spending plan to April 8. Legislators had already passed an extension when they missed the initial April 1 deadline, but they have said progress is being made on top items, such as funding for schools.

Last year, lawmakers blew past the budget deadline by almost a month, largely because of disagreements over changes to the state’s bail law and an ambitious plan to create new housing. This year, though, they appear cautious to avoid a similar blowup.

“We’re trying to move mountains quite honestly to take care of, you know, people who depend on our system,” Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat, said Wednesday.

Lawmakers are still trying to hash out an agreement on how the state hands out education funding to schools. Hochul proposed a plan that quickly drew criticism because it would result in some districts getting less money.

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